Light control switch



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LIGHT CONTROL SWITCH Filed Aug. 1, 1930 6 Sheets-Shest 1767065 75' J3 7made 1mm Nov. 15, 1932. v', RHQADES 1,888,145

LIGHT CONTROL SWITCH Filed Aug. 1, 1930 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 !NVENTORATTORNEY W s 2 w D. v. RHOADES 1 888 145 LIGHT CONTROL SWITCH Filed.Aug. 1, 1950 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOF:

ATTORNEY Patented Nov; 15, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE DEWEY VERNONBHOADES, 01F WICHITA, KANSAS, ASSIGNOR TO CHARLES E. FARROW AND HARLANW. FARBOW, BOTH OF WICHITA, KANSAS LIGHT CONTROL SWITCH Applicationfiled August 1, 1930. Serial No. 472,424.

This invention relates to a switch for controlling a lighting system,the general ob]ect of the invention being to provide means whereby avehicle entering a garage will antomatically close the circuit to a lampin the garage and to a porch lamp and other lamps if desired, with meansfor automatically breaking the circuit or circuits after a predeterminedtime.

This invention also consists in certain other features of constructionand in the combination and arrangement of the several parts, to behereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawingsand specifically pointed out in the appended claim.

In describing the invention in detail, reference will be had to theaccompanying drawings wherein like characters denote like orcorresponding parts throughout the several views, and in which Figure 1is a side view of the switch means, with the casing enclosing the meansin sec tion.

Figure 2 is a front view, with the casing in section.

Figure 3 is a sectional view through the pedal means operated by thevehicle.

Figure 4 is a top plan view of such means.

Figure 5 is a section on line 5-5 of Figure 1.

Figure 6 is a section on line 66 of Figure 2.

Figure 7 is a section on line 7-7 of Figure 2, but showing the slide inraised position and the circuit closed.

Figure 8 is a diagrammatic view of the circuits.

Figure 9 is a front view showing a modification.

Figure 10 is a vertical sectional view through Figure 9.

Figure 11 is a view of the circuits of the modification. In thesedrawings, the numeral 1 indicates a casing which may be placed in anysuitable location, such as the basement of a building or in a garage,and the numeral 2 indicates a block of non-conducting material Ifastened to an internal wall of the casing, the block being arranged invertical position.

Said block has a vertically arranged groove 3 therein, this groove beingformed by placing a strip or strips 4 on the block 2 and fastening thesame to the block, but it will, of course, be understood that the groovemay be formed directly in the block. An elon gated late 5, also ofnon-conducting ma;

terial, 1s vertically movable in the 1 ave "and has attached to itsouter face a jacent the upper end thereof a bracket 6 which has anoutwardly extending part which is engaged by a part of a crank shaft 7having one end rotatably arranged in the block, gar-shown. at 8, and itsother end, which is positioned" in a vertical plane, is pivotallyconnected to a wire 9 which extends through a conduit 10 which has oneend connected with the cas ing and its other end extending through anbya child and its outer end is guided by a bolt 14.- embedded in theconcrete roadway and passing through a hole in the pedal, nuts 15 onthis bolt 14 limiting the upward move ment of the pedal. The wire 9 isconnected with the pedal, as shown at 16.

The end of the conduit 10 passes through the concrete into a chamber 17formed therein and a tubular part 18, attached to a cap 19 fastened tothe pedal, encloses the end of the conduit and the wire.

Thus it will be seen that when a wheel of a Vehicle rides over thepedal, the wire 9 will cause the crank shaft 7 to be tilted and theengagement of the crank shaft with the bracket 6 will move the slide orplate 5 upwardly, as shown in Figure 7. When the plate moves to itsupper position, a contact 20 on its under face will engage a stationarycontact 21 in the block 2 which is connected by a conductor 22 to lampsplaced in the garage. on the porch of the dwelling or at any othersuitable place. A contact 23 is embedded in the front face of the slide5 and is connected with the contact by a rivet 24 or the like and whenthe slide is in raised position, this contact 23 will engage the flattened end of a substantially U-shaped thermostatic strip 25 which hasits other end flattened and fastened by the screws 26 to the lower partof the block. The fastened end of the thermostatic strip is connected bya conductor 27 to a lamp 28 located in' the casing and extending underthe thermostatic strip. The other terminal of the lamp is connected to aconductor 29 which forms part of the lighting circuit and a conductor 30is connected with the conductor 27 and with the circuits of the lamps 31which may be a lamp in the garage and a lamp on the porch or lampsotherwise located.

From the foregoing it will be seen that when'it is desired to light thelamps, the car is steered so that it will depress the pedal 11 and thedepression of the pedal will raise the slide5,which closes the circuitsof the lamps and places the thermostatic strip in the circuit. The heatfrom the lamp 28 in the casing will, after a certain length of time,cause the thermostatic strip to expand so that its free end will moveoff of the contact 23 and thus break the circuit so that the lamps willvbe extinguished and as the free end of .the thermostatic strip moves ofithe slide, the slide will drop under the action of gravity asthe spring13 has already raised the pedal and moved the crank shaft 7 from underthe bracket 6. Thus the lamps will be lighted by the car approaching thegarage and will stay lighted long enough for the car to be placed in thegarage and the door shut and the occupants enter the house. The lampsare then automatically extinguished by the breaking of the circuits bythe thermostatic member.

. This member can be adjusted to break thecircircuit will bebroken. Inthis form of the.

, invention, the wire 9 extends into the lower part of the groove in theblock 2' and has a small block 34 of non-conducting material on itsextremity which will engage the slide 5' when the wire is pushed upon bythe pedal so as to raise the slide. In this form, thethermoa staticstrip 25 is fastened to an outwardly exv tending armof a bracket 26 anda set screw 35 passing through a threaded hole in said outwardlyextending part engages the strip and acts as adjusting means for thesame.

. It is thought from the foregoing description that the advantages andnovel features of the invention will be readily apparent.

It is to be understood that changes may be made in the construction andin the combination and arrangement of the several parts, provided thatsuch changes fall within the scope of the appended claim.

What I claim is In a device of the class described, an insulating blockadapted to be mounted upon a. support and having a longitudinal groovetherein, said block having a pair of spaced contactslocated at the bedof the groove and adapted to be arranged in a normally open electriccircuit, an insulated'elongated plate movably mounted in the groove andhaving means for bridging the contacts to constitute a switch forclosing said electric circuit, a bracket mounted upon the block beyondone end of the groove, a substantiallyU-sha-ped thermostatic stripcarried by the bracket and having one end engaging the plate forreleasably holding the same in'position for the closing of said circuit,an extension on the plate, and a crank located with respect to theextension for action thereon for the moving of the plate in onedirection and manually operable.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

DEWEY VERNON RHOADES.

